We'd like you to meet...

Ranger, our new dog. After lengthy discussion with Grandma and Grandpa we've recieved thier blessing to take in a dog. We were lucky enough to find Ranger, a well tempered five year old black labrador retriever. He's already found a fast friend in Emma who has co-claimed Ranger's dog crate as her personal house. Hannah and I are already enamored with this cuddly pooch ourselves. We learned quickly that he loves the water when soaked up a backyard bath with no complaints. We're looking forward to having tons of fun with Ranger and hope he get's along well with his... um... "Cousins" (my brothers dogs.)

We've picked up a few doggy necessities and Ranger has taken to his new accomodations like a champ. We'll tell more about Ranger soon, in the mean time perhaps you'll get to meet him for yourself. In fact if you want my dog to play with your dog, let us know so we can make arrangements for everyone to meet properly!

The Forbush Cabin

Our weekend excursion was tons of fun. Many thanks to everyone who took Monday off to spend time with we late comers. The cabin was a welcome oasis, the weather temperate, the terrain beautiful and the shooting plentiful. Seems like a good way to bring the summer to a close. Only sad thing is that now I'm a spoiled camper and I'll have a hard time going outdoors without a living room, kitchen and modern plumbing!

Many thanks to Rob and Amanda for inviting us to come along. Also we want to thank Uncle Kenny for sharing his equipment, bringing bowling pins for targets, and being so very kind and accomodating. I know Emma really enjoyed being with him and that made the trip fun for her and her parents. Also thanks go to Grandma and Grandpa for bringing the pistols and ammo, as well thier food and thier help in cooking and cleaning up. I think Grandpa may have done more dishes than anyone on this trip.

We also have some video to share, click on a title to view the clip streamed in .wmv format. Also, we've put all our pictures on the photo blog if anyone wants to take them home. Most are of Emma, but we thought we'd share anyway.

• Riding a 4 wheeler
• Watching Pooh Bear in the truck
• Hondaland playgroud
• Grandpa shares thoughts on the cabin

We even stopped by to see the property of one of the Gentry's Star Valey neigbors. The Hales Ranch, which Hannah and I visited earlier in the summer, was looking as beautiful as ever and everyone was suprised to know that they had passed by for so long without knowing our neighbors in suburbs were thier neighbors in the mountains.

Click to view video

Emma got a special treat this weekend when she got to see Ken's 4 Wheelers up close. Usually they're up on a trailer and out of reach, but Uncle Ken let her climb on them and test them out this weekend. She seemed to have a real blast for not moving anywhere.

If the best part of the trip was hanging out in Uncle Ken's truck, then the funnest part was being in the truck with Uncle Rob's dog, Spike. Emma had been around Spike before but loved watching him run free in the woods. She was so entertained by him, and loved to share the back of the truck with Spike who seemed to love the truck bed as much as Emma did. She even would share hugs with Spike who didn't seem to mind.

One of the first things Emma did upon arising the next morning was run for Uncle Ken's truck and cray out "I Help!" while reaching for the back bumper. Soon Ken was reaching over the tailgate to grab Emma arms and swing her into the truck bed. Emma fell in love with the cushion-ie confines of the truck and could hardly be removed through the trip. We're lucky to have an Uncle Ken who was gracious enough to share with a toddler (who surely will love him forever for his service.)

Watching movies in the back of Uncle Ken's pick up quite possibly may have been Emma's favorite part of the trip. Here Ken has invited her to watch Pooh Bear on his laptop as night draws near and dinner is being prepared.

Emma did a little riding with mom and dad. She seemed a bit frustrated at the 2 MPH pace, but was having fun none the less. Check out the video!

A picture with your thousand?

Hannah and I sometimes keep in touch while she's at work with the MSN messenger (blech) which has a neato feature called "handwrite." Basically it's an incarnatoin of the "whiteboard" feature built into XP which lot's of people wished they could use but most couldn't becasue IT department firewalls would never allow such open access to a company computer. Now it's available on a smaller scale, and as you can see we've been having a little fun with it. Maybe some day we'll do some work with this tool too!

Hey Mrs. DeeJay

Hannah takes over as the master DeeJay while I take care of some roudy youth and devour half a snadwich. Hannah had never really run things on her own for extended periods, but she did a fabulous job! I had to take a picture to show just how cute she was as she ran the board. Here, she's cuing up a song with our brand new headphones.

This is one of "Hannah's Lillys." To be more precise, it's a Stargazer Lilly and one of if not THE most favorite of Hannah's favorite flowers. These lilly's beg special attention becasue Hannah picked them and planted them herself and has been waiting patiently all year for them to grow and bloom. In fact, we worried they may not have sprouted or had been devoured by insects, but in just the last week or so we've seen these beautiful stargazers pop up all over the yard. Congratualtions Hannah!

That nap was one of the best parts of the trip. It was quite outside, the breeze wafted through the tent (Which has enormous windows!) and every time I roused a bit to roll over I saw some incredible views like these and remembered just why I enjoy camping.

Getting Emma to nap was a bit of a challenge, but it was much easier to join her than beat her, so mom and I crashed with Emma for a mid-day snooze on Firday.

Emma took to the tent immediately finding way to have fun inside. She especially liked the folding bed container and made sure she had a bear along with her while she sat back and read a book.

Emma found her own ways to have fun at the reunion such as borrowing her cousins bicycles. She had so much fun on these it became apparent immediately what she wanted Santa Claus to bring her for Christmas. Along with some type of tricycle it appears that Santa should bring blowing bubbles. Emma could not be torn away from Clair as she wafted bubles through the camp.

Grandpa scouts out a few of the GeoHunt locations including the infamous X Marks The Spot, Springing Up, Little Niagra, and Split Rock.

♫ Doctor, Doctor... gimme the news ♪

Hannah fell (quite literaly) on the mercy of our brother-in-law Steve yesterday when she cut her toe open and needed some stitches. You see, Steve is better known to us as Dr. Steve (A.K.A. The Official Medical Authority of AIDT.) Hannah didn't want to get stitches if she didn't need to so Steve graciously volunteered to give Hannah a second opinion on my evaluation. I think Hannah was also happy to have someone she knew sticking needles into her feet. Steve did a great job and was quite speedy to boot. He was assisted by Meesha, one of the clinic's nurses who volunteered to stay late and help put Hannah back together. We really appreciate the help of both these great medical professionals!

• Listen to Robert Palmer's "Bad case of lovin' you"
  

The Buddingham's Strike... again

We were at a birthday party for my cousin-in-law and band mate Danny on Saturday when a strange crew of folks came strolling in. I had met them only once before, they called themselves - The Buddinghams. This time they had a new addition, he made them look a little rickety but they still turned heads as they always seem to do.
© Douglas Ingram

We've definately got a space to camp at!
© Douglas Ingram

Emma rides in grandma and grandpa's backseat on the way to checkout the reunion camp site. En route she tried on Jenica's hat to get into the reunion spirit.
© Douglas Ingram

The Big Girl Swing

Emma was determined to swing in the big girl's swing over the weekend. Her mom and dad had doubts she could handle it but Emma persisted. Lo and behold our 18month old can swing in the big swing! I know - I could hardly belive it myself.
© Douglas Ingram